Finding Refuge in Canada: Narratives of Dislocation

Refugees and asylum seekers flee their countries in hopes of safety abroad. Governed by the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, refugee status is a matter of both international and domestic law. Historically, Canada has assisted many refugees from all over the world. However, human migration is a complex phenomenon, and Canada's refugee policies are also not immune to the influence of political and popular opinion.

Conference Report & Summary of Conference Proceedings, June 15-18, 2008 at York University, Toronto, Canada This was the inaugural Conference of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS). The event was hosted by the Centre for Refugee Studies, York University.

Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 2014

Canadian national identity is based on a self-image of humanitarianism and liberality governed by ethical and moral principles of social justice, universal health care and equity for all. However, recent changes to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) demonstrate that the current discourse on refugee policy in Canada is built on a socially constructed image of “the refugee.” Drawing on contemporary refugee literature we look at how refugees are constructed as the ‘Other,’ both nationally and internationally. Using the recent changes to the IFHP as a case example, we demonstrate that the construction of “the refugee” as an Other has informed the cuts to refugee care in Canada. Exposing Othering in Canadian refugee policy is necessary for providing helpful and equitable treatment to refugees in Canada

2013

Increasingly refugees live in urban areas—usually in slums impacted by unemployment, poverty, overcrowding and inadequate infrastructure. Host governments oft en restrict refugees’ access to the labor market, access that can be further impeded by language barriers, arbitrary fees, and discrimination. UNHCR and its partners are seldom equipped to understand and navigate the complex urban economic environment in order to create opportunities for refugees in these settings. Based on assessments undertaken in 2010 and 2011 in Kampala, New Delhi and Johannesburg, research fi ndings indicate that refugees in urban areas adopt a variety of economic coping strategies, many of which place them at risk, and that new approaches and diff erent partnerships are needed for the design and implementation of economic programs. Th is paper presents fi ndings from the assessments and lays out strategies to address the challenges confronting urban refugees’ ability to enter and compete in the labor mar...

International Journal of Literacy, Culture, and Language Education

Humans are on the move. As refugees are forced and flow over borders due to war, violence, upheaval, and opportunity, the value of their language and professional experience is constantly questioned and often dismissed. Past and present research holds that learning a new home country's language is the critical component in refugee adjustment, success, and connection (Chiswick & Miller, 1995; Kosyakova et al., 2022). Much attention is focused on providing basic language training to refugees as a path to self-sufficiency, but there is little focus on language training for specific professions of expertise to help refugees retain and contribute to highly skilled professions. With Refugees in Canada: On the Loss of Social and Cultural Capital, Ricento fills a void by examining the need to recognize the capital that refugees bring and the pressing demand to refocus the language curriculum to better support and promote professional transitions.

Canadian Geographer/Le …, 2000

Immigration is predicated on the centrality of the nation-state. The authors argue that analyzing settlement patterns and successful integration within a strictly national context is insufficient to understand the political, social, and economic relations which shape the lives of refugee immigrants in Canada. To support this claim, a less state·centric theoretical framework of transnational migration is outlined. The paper examines methods emerging from transnational migration, focussing in particular on research with Burmese refugees who have settled in the Greater Vancouver Area. Based on 50 personal interviews conducted with refugee newcomers from Burma who are now settled in the Lower Mainland, the authors use the case study as a basis to raise methodological and theoretical questions about immigration research. We argue that the very politics of doing research with this group of refugees and other immigrant groups are shaped by the relations Of power experienced before arriving in Canada. keywords: immigration, transnationalism, methodology, refugees Les auteures soutiennent que ranalyse des schemas d'etablissement et d'integration reussie dans un contexte strictement national s~vere insuffisante pour comprendre les relations politiques, sociales et economiques qui de{inlssent I'existence des refugies immigrants au moment de rarrivee. Oons le but d'appuyer cette proposition, nous definissons.un schema theorique moins axe sur fetat, c'est-a-dire le transnationa/isme. La recherche examine ces facteurs en relation avec les experiences des 'immigrants nontraditionnels' aU Canada, en porticulier les refugies Burmans instal/es dans la region de Vancouver. Bases sur 50 entrevues personnelles menees avec des refugies nouvellement arrives du Burma et qui sont maJntenant instal/is dans le 'Lower Mainland', les auteures utilisent "etude de cas comme une base permettant de soulever des questions de methodologie pour la recherche en immigration. Nous avan~ons que les implications politiques de la recherche avec ce groupe de refugies et d'autres groupes d'immigrants dependent des relations de pouvoir vecues avant rarrivee QU Canada.

Refuge: Canada's Periodical on Refugees, 2003